From 2 to 5 November 2020, the World Customs Organization (WCO) delivered an Online National Workshop on Non-intrusive Inspection (NII) for the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA). The workshop was organized as part of the WCO Customs Capacity Building project for the East and Southern Africa (ESA) region funded by the government of Finland.

Video-conferencing technology brought together more than 20 URA scanner operators and X-ray image analysts, WCO accredited and recognized experts from Australia and the Netherlands, and WCO Secretariat staff.

The workshop participants were addressed by the URA Commissioner of Customs and the WCO Director for Compliance and Facilitation, who both highlighted the importance of the use of NII technology.

The online workshop sessions covered various topics such as deployment of NII technology; NII officers selection, training and integrity; radiation detection; radiation safety; and image analysis.

“As an NII officer, I want to add value to the process of increasing the supply chain security”, one of the workshop participants said during the workshop closing session and thanked the workshop facilitators for making it possible for him to identify ways to enhance his professional contribution. The workshop also helped the participants identify the strategic direction for future work and was appreciated as an opportunity to learn about emerging trends and best practices in the NII area.

The use of NII technologies is outlined in the Customs to Customs cooperation pillar (Pillar 1) of the SAFE Framework of Standards and serves one of the key objectives of SAFE - to promote the seamless movement of goods through secure international trade supply chains. As per standard 3 of Pillar 1 of the SAFE Framework of Standards, non-intrusive inspection equipment and radiation detection equipment should be available and used for conducting inspections, where available and in accordance with risk assessment. The standard also prescribes that the equipment is necessary to inspect high risk containers or cargo quickly, without disrupting the flow of legitimate trade.